Silver City Brewery is welcoming the new year with a new beer
and new look.

The
Bremerton microbrewery announced the introduction of Cold One
Pilsner to its seasonal lager rotation with a news release
Tuesday.

Cold One is being distributed in bottles and cans this month,
with draft available in January.

Cold One is the first Silver City release to showcase the
brewery’s new branding. Silver City worked
with Blindtiger Design of Seattle to create a new master logo
and logos for each beer. New packaging will roll out in 2015.

“While we have great pride in that lineage and our history, we
felt it was time to update our look,” Silver City owner Scott
Houmes said. “After a long in depth process we really feel the new
look is befitting the quality, consistency and culture of
Silver City Brewery.”

Silver City was founded in 1996. It’s Kitsap County’s largest
brewery.

Jon and Sheree Jankowski filed a liquor license application this
week to place a microbrewery and taproom at 555 Pacific Ave., a
space at the base of the “Tim Ryan Building” at Sixth
Street and Pacific. The business would be called Wobbly
Hopps Brewery.

Jon, a shipyard worker,
and Sheree, a city employee, are negotiating a lease on the space.
The homebrewers said they are responding to public demand.

“We heard a lot of interest in Bremerton having a
brewery,” Sheree said.

Wobbly Hopps could open in the spring of 2015
if it secures federal and local approval as well as the state
license. Sheree said they plan to start with
a five-barrel brewing system.

Another brewer is eyeing space in the same area. Jesse
Wilson, an assistant brewer at Port Townsend Brewing is
running an ongoing Kickstarter campaign to open a “LoveCraft”
microbrewery in downtown Bremerton.

Bremerton is not bereft of beer makers – Silver City
Brewery and Manette’s Der Blokken Brewery both have
strong support in their own corners of town. But momentum seems to
be growing for a brewery in the downtown business district.

The crowdsourced money
won’t cover all the costs of launching a brewery, but
Jesse said it will give them critical boost.

“It’s enough we can go to a bank with a solid
business plan and collateral,” he said.

Jesse, a 2004 Olympic High graduate and 2006 OC graduate, is
currently an assistant brewer at Port Townsend
Brewing and has previous experience at Hale’s Ales in Seattle. He and Tasha
met while working in the craft beer industry.

They like brewing “farmhouse” beers – traditional Belgian
and French styles. But Jesse said he also has a lineup of Northwest
favorites like IPAs.

When it came to picking a location, the couple saw untapped
opportunity in downtown Bremerton. They’re looking for space
near Sixth Street and Pacific Avenue.

“We see a lot of potential there,” Jesse said.
“It seems like a great place to open a brewery to us.”

I chased
Lambert and his rowboat through Agate Passage in my kayak
and snapped some photos before pulling out in Suquamish. Lambert,
it turned out, had another five hours to go.

He covered the 14 miles across Puget Sound and through the
Ballard Locks in about 6 hours and 45 minutes, according to an
email he sent Monday.

“Everything kind of hurts,” Lambert reported, “but not
nearly as bad as I thought it would.”

The Slippery Pig
Brewery owner was inspired to deliver the keg of beer by
rowboat after learning about early residents of the county and the
long distances they rowed on a regular basis.
Lambert’s journey to Seattle reinforced his admiration
for those sturdy souls.

“I have gained an entirely new respect for Poulsbo’ s
forefathers and the tough women who settled Kitsap,” Lambert wrote.
“That was so much water to cross. So much water.”